What Are Recovery Programs and How Are They Designed With 12 Steps in Mind?

Drug addiction is a complicated disease that affects a person's mind and body. While many may have tried to quit on their own, the intervention associated with a recovery program can provide the medical, physical and psychological support to help a person succeed. More than 14,500 specialized drug treatment facilities are available in the United States currently, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Examples of Recovery Programs

While recovery programs often start with detoxification, they rarely end there. Following detoxification, a person is often encouraged to participate in a recovery program that then turns its focus on ridding a person of the mental addiction to a substance and giving a person the tools he or she needs to successfully quit abusing drugs and/or alcohol. The basis for many recovery programs is the 12 steps. Creators of the Alcoholics Anonymous program were the originators of the 12-step program. However, many variations now exist.

The 12 steps are personal acknowledgments that a person has a problem with drug abuse, requires help outside the person's own abilities and that drug addiction is wrong, harmful to a person and requires assistance to overcome. While some 12-step programs are firmly rooted in spirituality and belief in a higher power, this does not represent all 12-step programs.

Other examples can include family counseling, life skills classes, and sober living arrangements.

What Is Addiction Treatment Therapy?

In addition to the 12 steps as a guiding principle, behavioral management techniques are often a part of substance abuse rehab. Different behavioral management techniques exist, including cognitive/behavioral, motivational interviewing and motivational incentives.

Cognitive/behavioral therapy focuses on the conscious decisions a person must make to refrain from using drugs and/or alcohol. A therapist will have sessions with an individual to help him or her identify behaviors in the past that have led to drug abuse or that were keeping a person in a cycle of addiction.

These could include hanging out with the wrong people, constantly living in a state of stress or refraining from engaging in healthy habits. The behavioral aspect of the therapy then asks the person to identify ways he or she can avoid these behaviors in the future and how to resist the tempting thoughts that often occur when a person stops abusing drugs or alcohol.

Motivational incentives are another type of behavioral therapy. This therapy focuses on action and reward and is a very positive and goal-directed method of reinforcing the principles of sobriety. A program may outline definitive ways a person can earn incentives and rewards, such as extra phone time for a call to a loved one, a food treat, extra privileges or even gift cards for when a person returns to the outside world. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, motivational incentives lead to greater abstinence from drug abuse.

Types of Substance Abuse Therapy

Just as there are several different behavioral techniques, numerous therapy approaches exist. Each individual is different in the techniques that he or she responds to. Examples of substance abuse therapies include Moral Recognition Therapy or MRT.

This is a cognitive/behavioral therapy approach that uses education on drug abuse, group and individual counseling aimed at persons who are resistant to drug rehab treatment. Not all people who come to a treatment center do so voluntarily. This substance abuse treatment therapy is aimed at helping a person find the moral reasons why substance abuse is wrong and hurting the person and others.

Many substance abuse therapies now also focus on an aspect of wellness and physical well-being. Examples can include art therapy, music therapy and restorative yoga. These programs encourage a person to participate in a program that helps him or her find a healthy and creative outlet to express emotions related to recovery.

Principles of Effective Treatment

Effective drug treatment programs focus on helping an individual find the behavioral therapy approaches he or she most responds to as well as individualized therapies that can motivate a person to continue on the path to sobriety. Effective recovery programs are long enough in duration to encourage real change, readily available, address well-being and also acknowledge and treat other underlying disorders, such as a mental health disorder.

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